Food! Glorious Food!

We have tons of it in our fridge. I'm not going to have to cook all week. We made loads of mashed sweet potatoes, two casserole dishes full of stuffing, lots of cranberry sauce, a couple of pies, a roasted turkey, and corn on the cob for our Thanksgiving guests. And our guests brought food as well. There was no way we were going to eat it all. No way.

We planned to have 14 adults and 3 children at our place (don't ask where they were all going to sit, we don't have that many chairs . . .) but then on Wednesday night the 4 missionaries we invited, and who accepted our invitation, told us that they'd had a better offer. A better offer? Better than super moist and perfectly spiced turkey? Better than 2 apple and 3 pumpkin pies? Better than mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and stuffing with wild rice (no StoveTop for us this year!)? Oh well. Their loss. Our celebration was only briefly dimmed by the small child tossing his cookies in the corner. Don't worry, he slept a lot yesterday and is back to being an energetic little ball of curiosity today.

But back to the food . . . it's been 48 hours since we sat down to our Thanksgiving feast and we've hardly touched the leftovers. Micah had to go to work yesterday (boo, hiss), and the munchkin seemed to have lost his appetite, and Micah and I went out to dinner for my birthday last night so we didn't have a chance to dig our forks in then, either. But we did get to eat four different kinds of ice cream (sweet potato, chocolate-chili, lemon olive oil, and grapefruit sorbet) and two different kinds of cake (sesame and chocolate) and ricotta fritters with green tomato marmalade at Dirt Candy. It's a vegetarian restaurant where a friend of mine is the pastry chef. We went for the dessert because that is what she makes. And we were not disappointed. Now we want an ice cream maker so we can experiment with flavors. If anybody wants to come visit us, we'd love an excuse to go back.

And if anybody wants to come help us clean out our fridge before it goes bad . . . well, you don't have to worry about that. We'll take care of everything.

Yes, the collar is around his waist.

I can only hope he limits his clothes-shedding to the privacy of our home. Not that he's very good at it. Yet.

"Oh Fish in the sea! Come listen to me!"

Long ago on the shore of a deep blue sea lived a man and his wife. They lived in a nice little house and the man designed stuff for a living. One day the wife said, "Husband, I want to get off this island. Let's go live in the big city so I can go to school." The man loved the little island and was sad to go, but thought it was for the best. The couple and their young son flew over the ocean and across a continent and moved into a little tiny apartment in a very big city. They settled in and were happy.

Soon the young son began to grow bigger. He was noisy and the couple could not sleep at night because he was so close to them. The wife said, "Husband, I want to get out of this apartment. It is too small. I want a bigger one." So the couple looked and looked for a new place to live. They rode trains all over the city to look at more tiny apartments. Finally, they found one with big kitchen, a big living room, and, best of all, a little room for their son. The couple packed up their belongings and moved into their new home. They painted the walls and were happy.

Before long the couple realized that their new home felt empty and cold with just their few belongings. The wife said, "Husband we cannot move again. We must work very hard to make this place our home. This is what we need . . .

Bathroom:

• new bath mat
• new shower curtain
• additional storage unit
• fix toilet
• window curtain

Living Room:

• new couch
• chair
• another book case
• rug
• build a charging station (for cell phones, camera, etc.)
• coat hooks
• hang pictures

Bedroom:

• new desk
• rocking chair
• finish painting baseboards
• shelves in closet
• organizational system (for under bed and on top of closet
• alarm clock
• shelves in the nook
• paint door
• hang pictures
• window curtains

Kitchen:

• Shelves
• more storage
• better work surface
• new light fixture
• microwave
• mount router and modem
• trash/recycling organization
• new cabinet handles
• paint cabinets
• white board

Simon's room:

• food storage shelves in closet
• clothes organization
  
• hang pictures

. . . and then we can truly be happy."

Avoiding the Bite

My consciousness is being invaded by a coven of vampires. You all know what I'm talking about. There are ads all over the subway. Billboards wherever I look. Newspaper articles with compelling titles. I cannot ignore them, as much as I try. Two summers ago, my sister brought Twilight with her when she came to visit after Simon was born. I read half of it, got annoyed by Edward's inhuman good looks (inhuman my eye, Bella obviously never met Micah), shut the book, and promised myself I wouldn't get sucked in. So here we are a year and a half later. I've had conversations with several friends about the story, the execution, the editing (or lack thereof), etc. and I always remind myself that I'm not going to get sucked in. I don't care to. I don't need to. My time is better spent with my family. Now, with Edward and Bella ambushing me at every corner, I just repeat to myself:

"There's no vampire like Micah."

"There's no vampire like Micah."
"There's no vampire like Micah."

One Month

My last day of class is Dec. 10. Yesterday I turned in my last major writing assignment aside from final projects. On Monday I took the only mid-term test of my grad school career. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling like I am going to make it. It has been harder than I thought it would be on some days and in some ways, but things have always turned out better than I expected.

This morning I was talking with some friends and I realized that starting next month I can make plans without worrying and wondering how I'm going to fit them around my classes, my homework, or Micah's schedule. I can just do things. Simon and I can go the library, the park, the store on a whim, without having to hurry because I need to be back to get ready for class. Micah and I will have every evening to spend together. We won't say our hellos and goodbyes of the day as we swap Simon on the train platform. We can spend our time helping others rather than always being the people who need help.

I know I still have a few weeks left, a few assignments to do, a lot of books/articles/texts to read, but I feel so free already.

Simon the Fish

Sorry this is a bit late, but, as can be seen in our last post, Simon really likes to play with our camera. The moment he hears it turn on he runs straight for it and ruins any shot we were about to take. Due to this and poor lighting, we didn't get any good pictures of his costume during the Halloween festivities. Luckily for us, however, today was a beautiful day for a photo shoot and his costume still fit. So, without further delay, here is what we did with all of our free time proceeding the 31st.In case you were wondering, we made it out of an old moving blanket which we dyed (for the darker fins and eyes) and cut up. The felt was great because it didn't require any hemming and gave it a nice, almost japanese paperish look. We then used some pajamas from Goodwill as the "frame" which we sewed everything onto. It turned out pretty well. The only problem was that the hood wouldn't stay up, but it almost looked better down, anyway.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Child

A Gallery Showing

The Hint of Red Pajamas

Red, Black, White


Kitchen Floor No. 1

Kitchen Floor No. 2

Spinning in the Kitchen

When Dad Comes Home

My Mother is Crazy No. 1

About the Artisit: Simon Heiselt is a child living in Brooklyn, New York. He enjoys buttons, bananas, scribbling, peanut butter and jam sandwiches, and dogs. His favorite words are "uh-oh," "go," and "shoe." He is currently going through his "naturale" phase. He likes to experiment with photography, computers, and helping his mother with her homework (which may have contributed to her above-mentioned condition). He has an eye for anything related to the New York City Subway and an ear for airplanes and dogs. He likes his dad best and asks where he is all day everyday.

We (check) Voted

But we didn't get stickers, even though we got up early to do it and had to take the train to our old neighborhood because we didn't change our address on our voter registration and then we stood in line (for not nearly as long as some of you) and got cut in front of twice by women who insisted they had been there before (riiiight) and then we were faced with the most archaic voting contraption known to man and when we stepped out of the booth we breathed sighs of relief that it didn't turn to dust when we pulled the lever. And that we are one step closer to ending this interminable election cycle.

It was the first time I've voted for President because 4 years ago I had some sort of issue with getting to the correct polling location and I was a crazy engaged girl with all sorts of time-management issues and emotional crises to deal with. I think I probably cried that I didn't get to vote that year.

Not this time. This time I was practically crying that I did have to go vote. Okay, I didn't really cry about it, but I will say that trying to decide which evil to endorse was pretty painful for us at the Heiselt home. I'm glad we made the effort to make our voices heard and do our civic duty and whyever else we're supposed to vote. However, I'm skeptical that our voices were actually heard because the ladies who cut in line didn't hear us say, "Excuse me," and the ladies who were monitoring our booth didn't hear us when we said we were Independent voters and decided we were Democrats even though we both clearly enunciated the word "Independent." I kind of think the only thing anybody heard from our family when we went to the polls were the many "Uh-ohs" Simon said throughout the morning. Which I think expresses my feelings about this election quite well, actually.